Rainy day pesto pizza

Pizza was not my original plan for supper tonight, but I got caught in a crippling summer deluge driving home from work. I had to take a long detour to avoid being washed away in rushing water along my usual route. The rains kept coming, thwarting the plans we'd had to grill steaks for dinner. Quick homemade pizza was a fine alternative, on a night when I doubt any pizza delivery could have made it to our house. This crust takes just 15 minutes to prepare:

Pizza crust
(from the little cookbook that came with my Cuisinart, circa 15 years ago):

1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2/3 cup warm water
1-2/3 cup flour (I use white whole wheat flour)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
1-1/2 tablespoons cornmeal for the pan

Stir yeast and sugar into warm water. Let stand 10 minutes, 'til foamy. In your food processor, mix flour and salt. Pour yeast mixture into work bowl through feed tube and process 45 seconds, until dough pulls away from sides of bowl. Add oil through feed tube and process 60 seconds.

Roll dough on floured surface, add more flour if it's sticky. Roll dough to a 14-inch circle. Oil a pizza pan and sprinkle with cornmeal. Put crust into pan, folding at edge to create a rim.

Topping

Spread crust with about 3/4 cup packaged pesto sauce. Cover with spicy capicola (thin-sliced, spicy ham) or prosciutto, fresh tomato slices, crumbled goat cheese, paper-thin slices of sweet red onions and chopped, fresh basil. (Or you can make a traditional pizza with canned tomato sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni slices, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, anything you like. )

Bake at 375 in a convection oven for 20 minutes or until rim is golden brown. (In a conventional oven, bake 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees.) Let pizza cool 5 minutes before slicing.